1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to games, and more particularly, relates to games wherein prizes are awarded, which prizes are the products displayed as a result of playing the game.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various establishments seek to promote certain of their products by offering more attractive prices on those products as by buy one-get one free, cents-off or other coupons, or by giving samples of the product individually or associated with other products.
Most of the coupons employed, whether they are mailed to the household or clipped from the newspaper, must be brought to a store to be redeemed. The consumer must remember to clip or collect the coupon and remember to bring it to a store for redemption. Once at the store, the customer must remember to get the items shown and to turn in their coupons. Because many coupons are never redeemed, the manufacturer does not achieve the type of response he desires. Also, since the coupons may have long expiration dates or no expiration date at all, statistical data regarding the promotion may not be available for a long time after the promotion is concluded.
In one gaming system, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,641 issued Apr. 16, 1991, a number of tokens having the same common code are distributed to patrons by the establishment or packaged with the product line to be promoted. The tokens must be brought by the patron to the establishment and played in the game device. Certain of the tokens result in the award of a prize which must be claimed at a redemption booth. The use of the game device does not display the manufacturer's products, improving his memory of such products and possibly triggering a desire to purchase the products shown, and the prizes awarded bear no resemblance to the code shown on the token or the machine display.
In another system, that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,723,212 issued Feb. 2, 1988, the purchase of certain products causes the generation of discount coupons which permit the purchase of products different than the ones then purchased. Each item purchased is examined to see if a coupon is to be generated, and when all items have been examined and the maximum number of coupons determined, a suitable number of discount coupons are printed and issued. The patron does not take part in the process other than originally selecting the products. He does not see a display of the manufacturer's products and the prizes awarded, if any, are intentionally different than the ones the patron has selected.
A further known device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,346 issued Jan. 1, 1991 shows visual ads of various products and dispenses coupons if the patron wins. The win is determined by matching the number on a readable card with a pre-selected set of winning numbers on the device. Again, the actual prize is not shown by the device and the prize bears no direct relationship to what is shown.
Thus, despite the considerable effort that has gone into the development of many different systems, there remains a need for a simple system which will attract the attention of potential customers and which can acquaint these customers with products and/or services being promoted by a business. depend upon the number of product representation matches on the game screen or display.
The present invention addresses these needs.